Morris Gleitzman - Aristotle’s Nostril

Aristotle’s whole body went grin-shaped as he thought about the good thing he was going to do. If the other germs found out, they’d think it was a naughty thing.

After having lots of fun writing Worm Story, I decided to write another book about tiny characters, but for a different reason.

I’ve always been interested in how young people see the adult world. On the one hand the grown up world is populated by large powerful individuals with amazing privileges (money, late bedtimes, travel agents, personal supplies of chocolate, the vote). On the other hand these superbly-resourced superheroes spend quite a bit of their time doing bad things (war, cruel gossip, yelling at animals, burning too much coal, getting divorced, cooking spinach.)

It’s a puzzle, and sometimes puzzles are best understood by taking a big step back. Or, as an alternative way to get perspective, by shrinking the participants. Which is how I found myself in a human nostril getting to know a couple of young germs.

Aristotle and Blob, like many youngsters, are deeply puzzled by the behaviour of the adults in their lives. But they’re busy young microorganisms with fun and adventure to pursue, so they haven’t ever taken the time to find out what’s really going on.

Not, that is, until their pursuit of creative fun finally gets too much for the oldies in their community, and Aristotle and Blob are sent outside the nostril until they learn to behave themselves. Which is how they make a discovery so amazing and gobsmacking that it needs exploring no matter what the risks.